'Forest bathing' can help reduce stress, north suburban group says

'Forest bathing' can help reduce stress, north suburban group says

Reducing stress could be as simple as taking a walk in the woods. The non-profit Brushwood Center in Lake County, Illinois is teaching people about the practice of "forest bathing," and it's not exactly what it sounds like.

Forest is not only beautiful to look at, it is also a retreat and gives strength. You can really bathe in it. But how does it work? And how can you bring nature into everyday life when it is actually just a long way away? Two experts know advice.

Forest bathing: Stress-free among the old hemlocks

In Mike Tidwell’s new book, “The Trees of Willow Avenue,” he tells of walking one day from a suburban Maryland parking lot into a forest. He and his companion walked for a while, then gazed up silently at the mature oaks, beeches and pines that surrounded them. “We began to feel the stress of the morning Beltway traffic and other cares falling away,” Tidwell writes. “Had we been hooked up to monitoring equipment, we would have watched our corti…